Unseen Poetry Practice

“How does the poet present ideas about daily life and connecting with the natural world?”

In “The washing never gets done”, Kapilinksi portrays life as hard and cyclical. The poet repeats “never gets done” multiple times, the use of repetition highlights the tiresome work the poet faces, telling us that life is naturally meant to be incomplete. This is further supported through the direct sentence “Life is never completed.” The use of direct speech shows how fed up the poet is of life.
We can see the cyclical nature of life through similes, comparing life “like a ball which one must continually catch,” the word “continually” shows that life is a regular and ongoing proccess. It’s comparison with a ball shows that it’s never ending and therfore all the struggles, all the hardships, problems are inevabitable. The metaphor “when the fence is repaired at one end, it collapses at one end,” proves the point that issues are inevitable. It’s showing that when life gets good, something happens to make it turn into turmoil.
The writer uses imagery “the kitchen door won’t close” and “there are cracks in the foundation” to display the battle they are fighting, it shows that they are always troubled and overwhelmed, which is backed up by "one can’t keep everything in mind.” This direct quotation shows how overwhelmed he is and that his mind is filled up, showing that he is discombobulated.

However, despite the struggles, eternal suffering of life, the poet presents the natural world as a “wonder.” The poet describes spring as “full of everything,” associating nature with life. Kapilinksi lists